What Anti-Virus, Firewall do you use?

FragsideFragside Australia
edited March 2011 in Science & Tech
What Anti-Virus, Firewall do you use? Just want to have a general idea on what you guys use.


I currently use NOD32 as AV and ZoneAlarm [ZA] as my firewall.

Thanks :cool2:

Comments

  • trolltroll Windsor, Nova Scotia Icrontian
    edited August 2010
    Avast and an Airport Extreme...

    Windows 7 Firewall Control for the Vista Firewall... Outgoing Control Only
  • kryystkryyst Ontario, Canada
    edited August 2010
    A router and no software firewall. Microsoft Security Essentials for my AV.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited August 2010
    No AV, and my router for firewall. If I used an AV, it would be Avast.
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited August 2010
    Same as Thrax: No AV. Router for firewall.

    On my kids' computers, I use Avira.
  • AlexDeGruvenAlexDeGruven Wut? Meechigan Icrontian
    edited August 2010
    Router for firewall, Windows firewall is off. MSSE for Anti-virus/malware, etc.
  • AnnesAnnes Tripped Up by Libidos and Hubris Alexandria, VA Icrontian
    edited August 2010
    Thrax wrote:
    No AV, and my router for firewall. If I used an AV, it would be Avast.

    Ditto. For me and Prag.
  • mertesnmertesn I am Bobby Miller Yukon, OK Icrontian
    edited August 2010
    Annes wrote:
    Ditto. For me and Prag.
    Same here. No AV is fine if you're smart about e-mail, what you download/run, and where you go.
  • Cliff_ForsterCliff_Forster Icrontian
    edited August 2010
    I recommend most folks use a real time anti virus program today, even smart users like us for two reasons...

    1. Decent real time protection options are free.

    2. The performance hit is minimal if your running a modern system capable of running windows 7 well. Good dual core, 4GB of RAM, no problem... There is no reason not to leave it run in the background. Its not like the dawn of XP where an antivirus in the background robbed you of 25% of the systems performance, now, its marginal, you will not notice a dip at all.

    I find that Microsoft Security Essentials scans quick and efficient, updates itself nicely, its not a terrible resource hog, I think thats fine for many people, but I would be leaving something out if I did not mention my love affair with MalwareBytes. MalwareBytes has done more for me as a free tool than any other program. I clean people's machines with it constantly, and thus I think its really worth the few dollars they ask to license it for real time protection. Its a powerful tool.
  • PirateNinjaPirateNinja Icrontian
    edited August 2010
    Whatever you do, I would recommend avoiding any software firewall. They are such garbage.
    Yes to Avast.
    Bigger yes to adapting to smart computing and not needing an A/V at all. (Ie. don't download anything illegal, use an email service that filters out garbage, use a quality browser, don't install anything unless you know what it is and you requested it, etc.)
  • Cliff_ForsterCliff_Forster Icrontian
    edited August 2010
    My experience with Avast! (which is admittedly limited) yielded a large number of false positives. I found it to be a little too paranoid.

    To Echo everyone else, A hardware firewall in the form of a router really is the only way to go. Don't need a router for your single direct connection? Get one between you and the internet anyway... Thats something I think we universally agree upon.

    Still, I understand the elite user mentality that says, hey, I don't need an anti virus program, but seriously, there is no reason not to run one, unless your hardware sucks. It costs you nothing to run it in the background. Couple that protection while practicing intelligent computing, your going to be hard pressed to have a problem.

    Also, depending upon your needs as a user, Ubuntu as an OS is a pretty fantastic anti virus in and of itself.
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited August 2010
    Key to avoiding malware: Keep everything updated, and don't do anything illegal (torrents, cracks, music, etc.).
  • RootWyrmRootWyrm Icrontian
    edited August 2010
    I use ESET NOD32, have for a few years, it really is about the best there is. That's on all the desktops. The Win2k3 and Win2k8 hosts run Microsoft Security Essentials so I can abuse ESXi's transparent page sharing.
    The firewall is pfSense (currently 2.0-BETA) with Snort pretty much cranked to max; previously it was FreeBSD 6.4-REL with ipfw. I'm actually running pfSense on ESXi combined with a physically segmented network, rather than a dedicated box like an Alix. Made a hell of a lot more sense financially, since I need ESXi for other stuff anyways.

    One of the laptops on the wifi got infected a while back; didn't do them any good though. Any data attempting to get out gets caught by Snort, and anything trying to get in gets blocked hard by the firewall.
  • PirateNinjaPirateNinja Icrontian
    edited August 2010
    Cliff_Forster wrote:
    My experience with Avast! (which is admittedly limited) yielded a large number of false positives. I found it to be a little too paranoid.

    To Echo everyone else, A hardware firewall in the form of a router really is the only way to go. Don't need a router for your single direct connection? Get one between you and the internet anyway... Thats something I think we universally agree upon.

    Still, I understand the elite user mentality that says, hey, I don't need an anti virus program, but seriously, there is no reason not to run one, unless your hardware sucks. It costs you nothing to run it in the background. Couple that protection while practicing intelligent computing, your going to be hard pressed to have a problem.

    Also, depending upon your needs as a user, Ubuntu as an OS is a pretty fantastic anti virus in and of itself.

    I don't think it is an elitist attitude, as much as it is one of not having AV is one less thing that can cause problems on my pc. I actually run Avast. It has never caught a false positive. I do see plenty of new computers which get massively bogged down by AV though. Especially 5400k laptops. If I still had my 5400k, there is no way I'd put Avast on. I only have it because I have an SSD. On that note, the only issue I have with Avast is that I have to disable it when compiling scripts, otherwise it blocks the compiler. But That is a good thing, I don't want anything compiling on my computer but me :)
  • RichDRichD Essex, UK
    edited August 2010
    Hardware firewall and Avira.

    I did try Avast a while back but I didn't like the interface but Having had another look more recently it seems to have a new one which is much better. Avira has the highest detection rate but it also has the highest number of false detections so I am swapping back Avast when I get chance. Also means I can get rid of the annoying popup that Avira has.
  • Brian_geekBrian_geek
    edited September 2010
    I use Avira and Kaspersky antiviruses; and Windows firewall.
  • AlexDeGruvenAlexDeGruven Wut? Meechigan Icrontian
    edited September 2010
    Brian_geek wrote:
    I use Avira and Kaspersky antiviruses; and Windows firewall.

    Multiple AVs on the same machine can cause problems.
  • Sp00nmanSp00nman Ferndale, MI
    edited September 2010
    I use an actual hardware firewall (a router is not a firewall) - FortiGate 30B. I typically use Symantec AV on our PCs, but MSSE seems to do a good job.

    Important note, my kids (and my wife) are not administrators on our PCs. Keeps away most of the junk.
  • ardichokeardichoke Icrontian
    edited September 2010
    Avira and Windows firewall on my Windows box.

    also, the DD-WRT iptables firewall on my router.

    As for my Linux boxxen.... LOLANTIVIRUS? and either ufw or firestarter, depending on the distro.
  • celtic-tigerceltic-tiger south yorkshire england
    edited March 2011
    Comodo AV and FW here
Sign In or Register to comment.